Karol and I have always had very similar taste. We are often drawn to the same silhouettes, fabrics and overall aesthetic, even if the way we wear them is distinctly our own. I was able to pull a photo from the archives (circa 2021) when we took a trip to Napa and it captures this perfectly. Here, we're both dressed in a way that feels very much like us. I am in black, naturally, while Karol is in creamy white. The looks are different, but there is something about them that still feels connected.
That same balance carries into the way we design together. We usually agree on the overall direction of a piece, but we don't always arrive there in the same way. We also happen to both be 5'2", so proportion is something we think about constantly. We try everything on ourselves throughout the design process, but we are very aware that we aren't designing only for ourselves. Women come in different heights, shapes and proportions, and we want the silhouette to work beautifully on them, too.
I think the combination of our perspectives is what makes designing together work. Karol may push a detail further and I may pull us back to look at the piece as a whole. There is a lot of conversation between the two, and somewhere along the way we usually arrive at something that feels like both of us.
Then, inevitably, we style it our own way. Karol might reach for cream and I will almost certainly reach for black. The cape is the same - the woman wearing it makes it her own. That has always felt very Nina Nieves to me.
KJS
